We generated a cDNA expression library from a human mammary epithelial cell line for detection of novel oncogenes by focus formation assay in NIH3T3 cells. A morphologically unique focus was identified and the transforming plasmid was isolated. The transforming gene, designated TIM, encoded a predicted protein species of 60 kDa containing a Dbl-Homology (DH) motif. This motif is also present in other growth regulatory molecules including Bcr, Cdc24, Vav, Ras-grf, and Ect2 which have been implicated as regulators of small GTP-binding proteins. NIH3T3 cells transfected with TIM expression plasmid showed altered growth properties in vitro and were tumorigenic when injected into nude mice. The 6.5 kilobasepair (kb) transcript of the TIM gene was mainly expressed in kidney, liver, pancreas, lung, and placenta. By analysing a panel of human-hamster somatic cell hybrids, we localized the TIM gene to human chromosome 7.
Stimulates the exchange of guanyl nucleotides associated with a GTPase of the Rho family. Under normal cellular physiological conditions, the concentration of GTP is higher than that of GDP, favoring the replacement of GDP by GTP in association with the GTPase.
A process that is carried out at the cellular level which results in the assembly, arrangement of constituent parts, or disassembly of cytoskeletal structures comprising actin filaments and their associated proteins.
The process in which a signal is passed on to downstream components within the cell, which become activated themselves to further propagate the signal and finally trigger a change in the function or state of the cell.
Podosomes and invadopodia are actin-rich membrane protrusions that play a crucial role in cell adhesion and migration, and extracellular matrix remodeling in normal and cancer cells. The formation of podosomes and invadopodia is promoted by upregulation of some oncogenic molecules and is closely related to the invasive potential of cancer cells. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the podosome and invadopodium formation still remain unclear. Here, we show that a guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF) for Rho family GTPases (Arhgef5) is crucial for Src-induced podosome formation. Using an inducible system for Src activation, we found that Src-induced podosome formation depends upon the Src SH3 domain, and identified Arhgef5 as a Src SH3-binding protein. RNA interference (RNAi)-mediated depletion of Arhgef5 caused robust inhibition of Src-dependent podosome formation. Overexpression of Arhgef5 promoted actin stress fiber remodeling through activating RhoA, and the activation of RhoA or Cdc42 was required for Src-induced podosome formation. Arhgef5 was tyrosine-phosphorylated by Src and bound to Src to positively regulate its activity. Furthermore, the pleckstrin homology (PH) domain of Arhgef5 was required for podosome formation, and Arhgef5 formed a ternary complex with Src and phosphoinositide 3-kinase when Src and/or Arhgef5 were upregulated. These findings provide novel insights into the molecular mechanisms of podosome and invadopodium formation induced by Src upregulation.
A reference proteome is a set of protein sequences derived from a complete proteome which constitutes a defined standard for a particular user community. Reference proteomes are manually defined according to a number of criteria. They cover the proteomes of well- studied model organisms and other proteomes of interest for biomedical and biotechnological research. Reference proteomes have been selected to provide broad coverage of the tree of life, and constitute a representative cross-section of the taxonomic diversity to be found within UniProtKB.